Wrestling Globe Newsletter by Mike Aldren – All the latest professional wrestling news and analysis direct to your inbox. WGN is read by industry power players, many top wrestlers and thousands of fans from around the world.

NXT season two got underway on Tuesday night with a cast of players including two third generation wrestlers. The show did a 1.1 rating and averaged 1.5 million viewers–its best number in that Syfy timeslot since before Wrestlemania. Joe Hennig, 30, grandson of Larry “The Axe”
Hennig and son of “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig will be going by the name Michael McGillicutty. He did acknowledge who he was on the show making the name change seem even more bizarre. He wrote on his old Twitter account (now deleted) that he was happy using McGillicutty as it took away expectations of living up to the family name. Hennig decided to get into wrestling, as did his sister Amy, after inducting his father into the Hall of Fame in 2007. He trained at Harley Race’s school in Missouri prior to joining the WWE developmental program. Kofi Kingston will be his pro… Windham Rotunda, 23, is the grandson of Blackjack Mulligan and son of WWE agent Mike “IRS” Rotunda. He’s using the name Husky Harris and will have Cody Rhodes, a family friend, as his pro. Rotunda won a state wrestling championship as 275 pounds in high school. He also played collegiate football for two years at Troy University where he was a broadcast journalism major. He has a younger brother (Taylor, 20) who is actually regarded as a better worker, but the new unwritten rule is that you have to be at least 21 years old to make the main roster. Both brothers dropped out of college early to pursue wrestling… Brandon Silvestry, 30, is better known as Low-Ki and has used the name Kaval since signing with WWE in 2008. His storyline mentors are Michelle McCool and Lalya which I believe is a rib after someone in creative did some research and found out about his infamous altercation with Tammy Sytch. Basically, backstage during an indy show several years ago there was an argument over who got to sit in a chair. Silverstry went nuts and challenged Sytch to fight him after she playfully tapped him on the chest with a hair brush and asked for her seat back. Back then he had a reputation for being a hot head and was disrespectful to several women in the business. He will likely be portrayed as the Daniel Bryan of this season and should do very well… Jon Emminger, 26, a former sheriff’s deputy is going by the name Lucky Cannon. Tall good looking kid. He was Johnny Prime in FCW but WWE already has their John’s. Mark Henry will be his pro… Nick McNeil, 28, will be Percy Watson with MVP as his pro.
Very little is known about him other than he played college football at Western Carolina and he may have attended camps for the Washington Redskins. He did a dancing ladies man gimmick in FCW… Kevin Kiley, 29, is using the name Alex Riley. Another college football player. He’s been in the developmental program since 2007. The Miz will be his pro and thus far seems to be developing an issue with Matt Stryker… Thaddeus Bullard, 33, debuts under the name Titus O’Neil. He played for the University of Florida Gators and was redshirted during the Gators 1996 national championship team. He lettered the next four seasons, playing in 44 regular season games. After college, he played in the Arena Football League from 2003-2007 with the Utah Blaze, Tampa Storm, Las Vegas Gladiators and the Carolina Cobras. His pro is Zack Ryder… Kip Christianson, 35, is a legit 7-foot former basketball player using the name Eli Cottonwood. He played college ball in Minnesota, had some interest from the Bucks and Mavericks but never made it. After graduation he played pro in several overseas countries including Lithuania and China. The chances of him making it are slim at 35. He moves well for his size but wasn’t a great promo in FCW. He’s paired with John Morrison as his pro who is not really known for being a great promo either.

Jamie Keyes (Brittany Beebe, 25) from developmental was trialled as the new NXT ring announcer. It wasn’t acknowledged who she was nor did they show her face on television. She’s a pretty blonde model from Saraosota who graduated FCW’s amateur class. She didn’t get signed until last year after winning a TNA valet search and attempting to get booked on Wrestlicious. It’s probably just a coincidence but her start came the day after Savannah (Angela Fong), who was originally in that role, flubbed her one line during Raw. The company has been searching for a new female announcer since Lilian Garcia departed last summer.
Singer/actress Lauren Mayhew was initially hired but didn’t last more than a few week’s because she had a savvy agent who wasn’t going to let her sign off on certain aspects of a WWE booking contract.

The DUI charges against developmental diva Liviana (Karlee Perez, 24) have been dropped. Prosecuting attorneys dropped her case after she requested a jury trial. She also received her driver’s license back.
Perez was arrested last summer following a late night traffic stop.

Su Young, an early 20s Asian-American wrestler was offered a developmental deal. She was trained in Memphis by Bill Dundee and Kevin White after moving there from Seattle a few years ago.

Quinton Jackson was very popular backstage at Raw with a lot of the younger guys having a mark out moment. He was referred to on the show as a “MMA fighter” per orders from the top. Nobody was allowed to mention that he fights for the UFC. Jackson, a huge wrestling fan growing up in Memphis, on his Twitter wrote that he got a thrill meeting some of his childhood heroes such as Jerry Lawler and Roddy Piper. Originally, Jackson had intended on pursuing a career in wrestling upon finishing high school, but ultimately ended up extending his amateur career at the junior college level before discovering mixed martial arts. He also tweeted that he enjoyed doing the wacky gas segment with DiBiase Jr. and hoped that they could do a movie together one day.

Vince McMahon was keeping a lower than usual profile at TV this week. He showed up on Monday with a black eye and appeared to have either been in a fight or had some kind of accident. Nobody seems to know what happened to him and I assume nobody dared to ask.

Beth Phoenix was backstage visiting at the Smackdown tapings. She told people she feels great post knee surgery and is already back in the gym doing leg presses on her injured leg.

Jim Ross recently announced that he had agreed to stay on with WWE as an employee to work in the talent relations department as well as some monthly backstage duties at pay-per-views. The NXT angle has already led to a lot of speculation that a heel Michael Cole would be revealed as the mastermind behind the deal which would pave the way for Ross to return to commentary. Ross wrote on his blog www.jrsbarbq.com that he thought the conclusion to this week’s Raw was one of the best in years.

John Cena is working the NXT angle on his Twitter claiming that he suffered a concussion on Monday. If that was really the case he wouldn’t be working house shows this weekend.

John Pollock of The Fight Network has a great two part interview with Ross talking about his many years in the business at http://tinyurl.com/36ycgff.

Raw did a 3.1 rating over the three hours and did a 3.3 rating in its usual timeslot for hours 9-11 averaging 4.8 million viewers.

The term “WWE viewers choice” was the No. 3 top web search on Google for the entire day on Monday.

FCW has a meet and great with Ricky Steamboat and his son Richie on Friday night before a live event at the Orlando Armory. Tickets range from $10 to $25 and more infomation can be found at www.fcwwrestling.com.

Ted BiDiase’s (Million Dollar Man) neck surgery on Monday went great and he was due to fly out to France today for a personal appearance this weekend.

Zavr Peygumbari, 22, the crazy fan who threatened to blow up Titan Towers after Mickie James was released, has applied for a probation program. Peygumbari was arrested and charged on 4/30 with four counts of threatening in the first degree, two counts of threatening in the second degree, and harassment. The charges stem from a series of threatening phone calls Peygumbari made to the offices of WWE. His next court date is on 6/22.

Smackdown TV on 10/1 which is the premiere on Syfy will broadcast live from Oklahoma City.

Trish Stratus is interviewed in the latest issue of The Wrestler magazine. “I always want to do something that is challenging and impactful, no matter what I do,” she said, when asked if she would like another WWE run. “Absolutely, I’d go back—but only if I could do something that makes a difference.”

Another new DVD in the works is The 50 Superstars of All Time. This should be an interesting list, which is currently being voted on by WWE employees with Vince having the final word.

Wrestlemania 26 DVD sales have been very soft. As of 5/9 the company had sold 24,810 units ($483,547) vs. 106,427 units ($2,127,476) for the same period for the Wrestlemania 25 DVD last year.

The WWE Studios movie with Randy Orton has a new working title of That’s What I Am. The previous title was Big Red. The film stars Orton and Ed Harris in a drama about a middle-school kid and the invaluable life lessons he learns from a special teacher. No release date has been announced.

WWE is planning to experiment with 3-D TV at some point next year.

Actor Mark Feuerstein of the NBC show Royal Pains will guest host Raw next week from Charlotte. Big Show has a cameo as a former bodyguard in an upcoming episode. He also worked with Feuerstein in the WWE Studios movie Knucklehead.

Cody Rhodes will be appearing on an episode of Syfy show Warehouse 13 in August.

Carlos Colon was interviewed this week by El Nuevo Dia, one of the main newspapers in Puerto Rico. He said Carilto is no longer addicted to pain pills and was doing well living with his mom at his home in Texas. He believes that Carlito will eventually return to WWE but right now needs the time off to heal from nagging injuries. He claimed Carlito asked for time off prior to his release but was refused.
TOTAL NONSTOP ACTION WRESTLING

Scott Hall didn’t show up for his arraignment Wednesday following his
arrest at a Florida bar last month. He was charged with disorderly
intoxication and resisting an officer attempting to make an arrest. He
entered a written plea of not guilty even though the incident was caught
on video tape and there are several witness statements against him.
Someone should probably tell him that. Judge Ralph Erikson has ordered a
pre trial conference on 7/1. Authorities were called to the Hitching
Post Bar in Chuluota on 5/14 after Hall, who had been “drinking heavily”
according to a police report, “became aggressive”. When officers
arrived, they found Hall cursing at the patrons and staff of the bar.
Hall had also reportedly punched out the window of a car. When he was
booked at the station he listed himself as an unemployed professional
wrestler.

Moore County District Attorney Maureen Krueger has told local press that
drugs charges against Jeff Hardy are still pending. The court calendar
indicated as of a few days ago that the charges were dropped but that
appears to be an administration error. Kruger told The Pilot newspaper
that a new charge has just been added. This doesn’t sound good at all
for Hardy.

Sean Waltman was a recent guest on the Cowhead radio show and spoke
publicly for the first time about leaving TNA. He said he’s just been
diagnosed with hepatitis C and was weighing different options on
treatment. TNA will no longer use him due to liability issues. He said
he didn’t know how he contracted the disease but admitted he’s had a lot
of unprotected sex in his time–although that’s thought to be a rare
means of transmission. He was pretty upbeat and was even joking about
swinging sessions years ago with his ex wife, ex girlfriend Alicia Webb
(Ryan Shamrock in WWE) and Ken Shamrock. He also talked about his
suicide attempt in Mexico in 2008. During a stint with AAA he said he
got really depressed and attacked Webb. Afterwards he felt so bad he
tried to hang himself with a garden hose after popping some Vallium
followed with a bottle of Bacardi. Webb found him just as he stopped
breathing. He claimed she did CPR on him for 45 minutes until the medics
arrived. Following that incident, Kevin Nash quickly got him checked him
into a rehab facility for both his drug addictions and his psychiatric
state, which WWE paid for.

Despite what Ric Flair has said publicly during recent media interviews,
Reid, his 22-year-old son, has not yet signed a contract. There could be
a verbal agreement, but nothing is on paper. They do want him though
because they want Flair to renew. Flair signed a guaranteed money deal
for around 60 appearances over 52 weeks back in January. Reid was an
accomplished wrestler in high school. He attended Blair Academy in 2005,
the top high school wrestling program in the country, but got kicked off
the team for assaulting another competitor, and with it the chance of
gaining a Division I scholarship. After graduation he went to the
University of Tennessee but dropped out. He also didn’t last very long
in the WWE developmental program. Aside from the obvious of being the
son of a legend he’s completed some training camps with George South in
Charlotte and did a couple of week’s with Harley Race in Missouri. At
one point last summer he was slated to start with Ring of Honor but it
was around that time he was busted for a DWI and possession of
heroin–that coupled with the fact Flair walked out on ROH in an attempt
to return to WWE. Last year we heard several stories that Reid would no
show agreed indy dates citing issues with his girlfriend, but most
promoters kept this quiet out of respect to Flair. He worked his first
indy shot in several months last Sunday.

Flair’s youngest daughter Ashley got married to her long term boyfriend
Riki Johnson on 5/22. Riki was the guy who got involved in a real-life
brawl with Flair a couple of years ago during which Ashley was arrested
for assaulting a police officer. Flair was in attendance and shed some
tears during the ceremony. A few hours later he flew out to London to
promote TNA’s UK tour in January. He did interviews with over 25
outlets–far more than WWE typical does when they send wrestlers for
promotional tours. We got a strange story regarding one magazine
interview. The reporter, who was a knowledgeable wrestling fan, asked
why TNA would give AJ Styles the Nature Boy character, when that
character is an extension of the real Flair, as opposed to an extension
the real AJ, who’s a family-man and devout Christian. Flair didn’t like
that question. The reporter then asked about the people that Flair
looked up to, like Wahoo McDaniel and Johnny Valentine, and what they
would do in TNA if they were given characters in the same way. Flair
responded that if someone would have told McDaniel what to do, he would
likely have walked out. The reporter then said that it was a shame that
wrestling would then have missed out on a great talent, since the
writers would have inevitably saddled him with a gimmick. Flair wasn’t
happy about that question either, and when asked if he missed how
wrestling used to be covered by the media in magazines like Pro
Wrestling Illustrated, as opposed to modern day, he reacted strongly,
questioned where the reporter was going with the questions, and then
commented that he gets paid a lot of money for live Q&As, and that his
questions were like a Q&A. The interview then ended abruptly.

Flair did an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper. When asked about
MMA and their fans, he said: “MMA doesn’t affect wrestling at all. I’m
not saying wrestling fans don’t watch MMA, but it is two different
audiences. My take on MMA is that those guys are phenomenal athletes and
extraordinarily tough and committed but the people that are crazy about
them got nothing going on themselves. I actually think most of the male
public that is crazy for that are living vicariously for something they
can never be. Wrestling is more entertainment-based. MMA is what it is,
those guys are out there trying to kill each other. And the guys that
are sitting at home going “Wow” could never find that within themselves
on the first day of their life. When Lesnar fights, I like watching
Brock… and I recognize a lot of names … you’ve got to have so much
respect for what those guys put themselves through but it is a limited
time frame [they’ve got]. It’s hard to develop a star in that business
that’s going to have any longevity. In wrestling a guy that develops a
name for himself can do it fifteen years.” He also talked about what a
great boss Dixie Carter was and predicted that Desmond Wolfe would be a
world champion one day.

ODB did an interview with the Right After Wrestling radio show athttp://tinyurl.com/3622qzb. She noted that she is about to make a change
regarding her future and talked about getting into acting. She has a
role in Kurt Angle’s next film called Death From Above which also stars
Kevin Nash, Matt Morgan and Angle’s future wife Giovanna Yannotti… In
other ODB news, she wrote on Twitter this week that she was confused as
to why people were congratulating her on getting engaged. Well, it was
because on her Facebook a few days earlier she changed her status to
‘engaged’ as a rib. She has a disclaimer on there telling people not to
take anything she writes seriously. Anyway, she said she’s not engaged,
despite several wrestling websites taking her seriously and reporting
that she was.

Eric Young and his girlfriend Sarah recently got engaged.

Matt Morgan will be appearing in an upcoming episode of the new Fox
series The Good Guys. He shot scenes in Dallas this past week.

Ross Forman, who worked in the public relations department, was released
as part of the budget cuts. He had worked with the company for over five
years and previously worked for WCW for seven years as a promotions
manger. A few people were surprised by his cut as most felt he did a
decent job and he was tight with Kevin Nash. There was some heat on him
in the office really through no fault of his own. He wrote the text for
all the new trading cards and a focus on the cards was the move to
Monday nights. Well, the cards shipped literally the day after Spike
moved Impact back to Thursday. Somehow the heat ended up on him.

Christopher Daniels is expected to start back before the end of summer.

Hulk Hogan has filed a lawsuit against Post Cereals over a commercial
for Cocoa Pebbles that featured a cartoon depiction of a beefy blonde
wrestler called “Hulk Boulder” that looks like a 1984 Hulk Hogan. The
cereal company could find themselves in trouble here. Hogan used the
name Terry Boulder in a tag team with Ed Leslie soon after they broke
into wrestling in Louie Tillet’s Alabama territory. In the commercial,
Hulk Boulder beats up Flinstones characters Fred Flinstone and Barney
Rubble, but is then beaten himself by Bamm-Bamm, Barney’s son who swings
him by his feet and tosses him into the air. According to the suit, the
advertisement contains “unauthorized and degrading depictions” of Hogan
without his permission. He is seeking unspecified damages.

Hogan is doing a live Q&A with at the Red Robinson Theatre in Coquitlam,
British Columbia on 7/18. The event is billed as Hulk Hogan &
Friends–The Nasty Boys, Brutus Beefcake, Jimmy Hart, The Honky Tonk
Man, Greg Valentine, and Hillbilly Jim are also advertised as appearing.
Hogan recently underwent a three hour minor back operation to remove
bone spurs. He won’t be missing any time.

Sting is looking at getting shoulder surgery soon.

Homicide is working through a rib injury right now.

Vince Russo, should he actaully step away from writing, has told people
he wants to become Executive Producer of the television show, which
would basically make him the Kevin Dunn of TNA, who may be the second
most hated man in wrestling.

Lacey Von Erich wrote on her website that she was gearing up for a
custody battle. She said the father of her son wanted to take him away
from her due to her wrestling schedule. She said she was meeting with an
attorney soon and felt lucky that she works for a family oriented
company.
OTHER WRESTLING NEWS

Masao “Rusher” Kimura, a huge star in Japan during the 1970s, who
popularized death matches in the steel cage, passed away due to
aspiration pneumonia on 5/24. He was 68. Later in his career he was best
known for comedy matches and post-match promos in All Japan and Pro
Wrestling NOAH

1960s and 70s wrestler Rocket Monroe (Maury High) passed away on Monday.
He was in the hospital with blood infection for a few days last week. He
came home on Saturday night, seemingly okay, but died two days later.
Monroe wrestled mostly in the Southeast as Sputnik Monroe’s tag team
partner.

British wrestling champion Jack Taylor passed away a few week’s ago
following a short illness. He was 82. Taylor wrestled in the 1950s and
1960s against the likes of Johnny Saint and Jackie Pallo, retiring just
before the heyday of British televised wrestling. He was a seven times
British champion, five times European champion and twice Captain
DuMonde, France’s version of world champion, claiming to have wrestled
in over 10,000 matches. In later life he ran a wrestling school at his
local YMCA and penned several books, including The Sexual Exploits of a
Professional Wrestler.

The Great Mephisto (Frankie Cain), who wrestled as one of the masked
Infernos with Rocky Smith, suffered a massive heart attack last month
but is doing better now. He is convelesing at home in Florida.

The Iron Sheik was a guest this morning on the Howard Stern and Opie &
Anthony radio shows. Sheik, who has some medical issues right now,
wasn’t in much of a talking mood today and didn’t freak out or cut
promos like he usually does. He plugged his appearances this weekend at
the Wizard World Comic Con in Philly. Bushwacker Luke, Lilian Garcia,
Raven, Al Snow, Val Venis and Nikolai Volkoff will also be appearing at
that event.

Promolast Events ran a fanfest in Atlanta last weekend with Booker T,
Lex Luger, Diamond Dallas Page and Kimberly, Ron Simmons, Howard Finkel,
Chief Jay Strongbow, Raven, Molly Holly, and a few others. The turnout
was very disappointing despite a heavy advertising push locally
including newspaper articles, radio spots and Luger appearing on the FOX
and CBS news affiliates. Many of those attending were hardcore fans from
different states who travel around the country to attend similar events.
One person noted that the event was well organised and ran smoothly
while another commented that the hotel where the wrestlers were put up
was the nicest hotel they had ever stayed at. The fans that did attend
had a great time and a highlight was said to be Howard Finkel’s Q&A
session. Promolast are hoping to run more events in new markets in the
near future.

Sid Eudy no showed an indy show last weekend in LaSalle, IL. He claimed
he missed his flight out of Memphis due to misplacing his photo ID and
said the airline wouldn’t allow him to board the plane without one.

Hollywood producer Scott Rosenfelt wants to make a film on the life of
Bruno Sammartino. Rosenfelt grew up in Philly and was a pro wrestling
and Sammartino fan. He hopes to get funding and start work on the
project in 2012 which would include some filming in Italy. Rosenfelt is
credited with some major hit movies during the past 25 years including
Teen Wolf and Home Alone.

Vampiro claimed he was kidnapped Monday night while driving from his
home in Guadalajara to Mexico City. He said several masked men with
machine guns flagged down his truck at a road block, then stole it, tied
him up with his eyes taped shut, and took him to a location where he
feared he was going to be killed. The masked men eventually let him go
so he filed a police report. He said the men who took him belonged to an
organised crime gang called Los Zetas. Vampiro, when he’s not being
kidnapped, is involved with the Guardian Angels chapter in Mexico City.

Lanny Poffo has surfaced on Oprah’s search for the next TV star. His
audition tape is online at http://tinyurl.com/2uhbar3. Diamond Dallas
Page has also taped an audition which isn’t yet online.

Former WWE wrestler Gene Snitsky on Twitter is doing a compaign to get
signed with TNA. He’s also releasing a t-shirt soon, which reads “It’s
Not My Fault.”

There is a big wrestling show at the Ohio State Fair Coliseum in
Columbus, OH on 8/1. Line up includes Scott Steiner vs. Abyss; Adam
Pearce vs. Phil Shatter; and Shark Boy vs. Mike Posey. More info athttp://tinyurl.com/36vy4vo.

Carlito and the former Katie Lea Burchill have now been pulled from
online advertising for WWC’s Anniversario event due to the circumstances
of Carlito’s release and Burchill’s visa issues.